Stocks end week lower on dull trade

Share trading was predominantly lackluster during the week ending on Thursday as investors were cautious in repositioning and placing orders for secondary shares, agencies report.
The benchmark index DSEX eroded 55 points this week when Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) saw low level of activities and experienced a technical glitch that halted trading for nearly two hours on Wednesday.

The broader index fluctuated around 4800-point level and finally closed the week at 4808.87, with the two selective DS30 and DSES sliding marginally to 1859.39 and 1191.00 respectively. Investors remained on the sideline and observed market movements, which resulted in 25.1 percent decline in the average daily turnover. The average daily trade value was Taka 619.96 crore this week against Taka 787.06 crore last week.

The total trade value of the week was also 21.23 percent lower as it fell to Taka 3 thousand 99 crore 84 lakh from previous week’s Taka 3 thousand 935 crore 34 lakh. The total trade volume also declined by nearly 32.0 percent to 73.25 crore shares this week from previous week’s 107.69 crore shares. Most of the traded shares closed lower in the last few sessions when the fourth day was a bit bullish. Shares of textile, engineering, financial institutions, service and real estate and fuel and power sectors gained despite the dull trading when insurance, telecommunication and travel and leisure sectors were down.

UPGDCL took the top position of the most liquid stocks mainly on speculative trading activity as there was no undisclosed price sensitive information. SPCL took the second position followed by CVO Petrochemical, BSRM Ltd and United Air on their voluminous transaction. Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) finished the week down as its major CSCX index lost nearly 18 points to close at 9000.08 on Thursday. Market was for buyers as most of the traded issues ended lower.

On the last day of the week, 119 securities closed lower against 99 gaining issues when the daily trade value was Taka 48.35 crore for 1.44 crore shares.